Window replacement costs in Gulfport

On the Gulfport coast, a window's real job in a hurricane is to hold. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety explains why on its FORTIFIED Silver page: doors and windows are one of the easiest ways for storm pressure to get inside, and once it's in, it pushes outward on the walls and roof. When rain and pressure get in, damage escalates quickly.

So in hurricane-prone areas, FORTIFIED Silver requires window and door protection tested to withstand both pressure and impact. It doesn't start with the windows, though. Silver includes everything in FORTIFIED Roof first, then adds the openings. It also catches a part people forget: a garage door with windows in it has to be rated for impact from windborne debris.

A FORTIFIED certificate matters in Mississippi. The state Insurance Department, on its mitigation page, lists discounts from the state's wind pool, the Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association, for homes with an IBHS certificate.

The housing here leans newer, with roughly 42 percent of houses in the area built in 2000 or later. Whatever the age of yours, if you're replacing windows anyway, impact-rated units can do double duty: new windows now, and one piece of a FORTIFIED upgrade later. Near the water, salt air also chews on metal, so look at the hardware and fasteners as closely as the glass.